ENGLISH v. FRENCH BOYS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—In your notice of M. Duhamel's "Comment Elever nos Fils "in the Spectator of July 13th, your reviewer says, "We see no mention of fives." I beg to refer him to pp. 206-207 for a specific and very appreciative recommendation of the game. May I protest against your reviewer's parenthetical sneer at the French boy's distaste for cricket "because it hurts Ills
hands, shins, and head " ? It is a common belief among Englishmen that French boys are more effeminate than English ones. Having been a schoolboy in both countries, I venture to claim that I speak with more knowledge than your reviewer, or the vast majority of Englishmen. The belief is quite unfounded. The average French boy is subjected to a far harder, sterner, and more comfortless discipline than the average English boy, just as the French young man has, in his period of compulsory military service, to undergo a trial of
p, luck endurance, and, in general, the Spartan qualities infinitely more severe than falls to the lot of ninety-nine English young men out of a hundred. Sneers, such as your reviewer's, are injudicious even when justified, but when unjustified they can hardly be blamed too severely.—I am,
Previous page
